Teacher Appreciation!

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week, and I wanted to be one of the first to tell the teachers how much I appreciate them!

Having been a classroom teacher for 10 years, I know what it takes.  I have been in the trenches.  It is a 24/7 job.  Even if I wasn't actually teaching, planning lessons, answering emails, and grading papers, I was thinking about my students.  It was GAME ON for nine months, and then all of a sudden, it was over.  No more lesson plans, no more papers to grade, no more conflicts to resolve.  Every year, it took a while for that to sink in.  Waves of panic would wash over me wondering what I had forgotten to do. Waves of relief would wash over me knowing that I had FINISHED THE COURSE.  Then, there were the waves of disbelief and sadness that these students who had been my children for nine months were no-longer mine.  I usually spent the first few weeks of summer break just vegging and decompressing while my brain recovered.

Most teachers love their students as if they were their own children, and you really have to love it in order to do it.  There is no other way to do it, because it is hard.  Actually, the teaching would be easy...if you were teaching robots!  However, you are teaching people, imperfect people...who have imperfect parents.  Yet, something drives teachers.  Teachers want their students to succeed.  When the student succeeds, the teacher succeeds.  You ask just about any teacher what they love about teaching, and probably the most popular answer would be seeing a student light up with understanding.  Teachers live for those moments.

I still teach, but not in a classroom.  I work with students one-on-one, mostly helping students who struggle with dyslexia to be better readers and spellers, but I do whatever is needed.  I love that I am still able to work with teachers.  We are a team, working to meet the needs of the students.  I admire them so much.  I have had great experiences with the teachers being willing to learn about dyslexia and give accommodations.  They really have a heart for the students, and have been great about accommodating my students' needs.

Thank you to my children's teachers, my students' teachers, and all the teachers out there!  Teaching is one of the hardest jobs out there, and you are my heroes!  Thank you!

Click here to watch my YouTube video about Teacher Appreciation.